Particle & Fiber Formation

Research Description

Dr. Velev was the first to report the use of colloidal crystals as templates for the preparation of “inverse opals,” which are now one of the most widely studied classes of photonic materials. The original report was on “inverse opal” silica. Velev and collaborators later synthesized a unique new type of material, hierarchically porous structured gold, via assembly of metallic nanoparticles. In more recent years Dr. Velev and collaborators developed a number of scalable, rapid and cost-effective processes for the synthesis of functional nanomaterials by biphasic precipitation under shear. Their “shear nanospinning” liquid-based technique for scalable fabrication may revolutionize the scale and scope of nanofiber application. Velev at al. also introduced a new class of environmentally-benign microbicidal nanoparticles with biodegradable cores made of lignin.

Current Projects

Versatile Nanofabrication by Shear-Driven, Non-Solvent Induced Phase Separation Rachel Bang

Soft Dendritic Colloids Austin Williams

Environmentally Benign Nanoparticles Cathryn Conner

Previous Projects

Encapsulation and Delivery of Pharmaceuticals and Nutraceuticals Stoyan Smoukov & Tian Tian

Nanospinning – A Novel, Scalable Method for the Production of Nanofibers Stoyan Smoukov

Assembly of Particles from Microspheres and Nanoparticles in Drying Droplets on Superhydrophobic Substrates Vinayak Rastogi

Synthesis and Self-assembly of Particles with Anisotropic Shape, and/or Dipolar Charge Rossitza Alargova

Representative Publications

Richter, A.P.; Brown, J.; Bharti, B.; Wang, A.; Gangwal, S.; Houck, K.; Hubal, E.A.; Paunov, V.N.; Stoyanov, S.D.; Velev, O.D. An environmentally benign antimicrobial nanoparticle based on a silver-infused lignin core. Nature Nanotech. 2015

Smoukov, S.; Tian, T.; Vitchuli, N.; Gangwal, S.; Geisen, P.; Wright, M.; Shim, E.; Marquez, M.; Fowler, J.; Velev, O.D. Scalable Liquid Shear-Driven Fabrication of Polymer Nanofibers. Advanced Materials 201527, 16, 2642-2647.

Velikov, K.P.; Velev, O. D. Synthesis and Novel Applications of Biopolymer and Biologically Derived Particles. Curr. Opinion Colloid Interface Sci. 201419, 381-382.

Velev, O. D.; Gupta, S. Materials fabricated by micro- and nanoparticle assembly – The challenging path from science to engineering. Advanced Materials200921, 1897–1905.

Koo, H. Y.; Chang, S. T. Choi, W. S.; Park, J. H.; Kim, D. Y., Velev, O. D. Emulsion-based synthesis of reversibly swellable, magnetic nanoparticle-embedded polymer microcapsules. Chemistry of Materials 200618, 3308–3313.